


Study Case of Love

by Tesla_HW_Writer



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: Anna Karenina - Freeform, Declarations Of Love, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Literature Essay, Love & Friendship, Love Confessions, Secret Crush, study session, writer block
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23892004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tesla_HW_Writer/pseuds/Tesla_HW_Writer
Summary: Aria is struggling with her extra-work essay for her literature class. Anna Karenina is the death of her but thankfully one her friend is a Russian literature specialist. Spencer comes to her rescue.In the end, it's Aria who helps Spencer to deal with one of her deepest secret.Sparia eventually.
Relationships: Spencer Hastings/Aria Montgomery
Comments: 20
Kudos: 25





	Study Case of Love

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back for my "one day one fiction" challenge. Today let's see where Spencer and Aria are bringing us.
> 
> Enjoy your reading.
> 
> Until next time,  
> T x

Sitting in the silence of the school library, Aria was working on her extra work for her literature class. She has chosen to work on Anna Karenina because her best friend Spencer couldn’t stop to talk about it. She wanted to know why all the fuss and she was starting to regret it.

She was about to give up when she received a text from her friend. When you talk about the Devil! Spencer was looking for her and was surprised to haven’t seen her during their lunch break. Aria sent her a text to reassure her.

**Aria: Trying to find the right angle to attack Anna Karenina and for the moment she is the one who wants to kill me!**

**Spencer: Anna Karenina? Why?**

**Aria: My mother, extra work to... You know look good on my college resume. I’ve been on it for weeks, and it’s due tomorrow, and sadly I have nothing.**

**Spencer: Where are you, right now?**

**Aria: The library.**

**Spencer: I’m finishing my class, and then I’ll join you. We could work on it. My place? Tonight?**

**Aria: My life saviour.**

When Spencer arrived at the library, she found the young Montgomery, her head down, lost in the 900-page novel. Aria was lost in her thoughts, she didn’t even realise her friend was now sitting next to her. Spencer was reading over her shoulder.

“You took the wrong angle, the most important isn’t the idea of love but the blessing of family life. Love is just a part of the story when the family is at the centre of it.”

“Holy crop! You scared me!” Almost screamed Aria looking at her friend, her hand on her chest, tempting to calm her racing heart.

“I know what you need. A hot chocolate and one of the many movies about Anna Karenina.”

“Please tell me that you have them somewhere.”

“Come on! You’ll be an expert of Karenina even before the sunrise.”

The two girls left school and drove to the Hastings. Melissa was still in Philadelphia, and both of Spencer’s parents were out, probably either at work or at their club with clients to impress. Spencer dropped her bag on the couch and prepared two hot chocolate for her and Aria. The young Montgomery looked at her friend’s DVDs hoping to find the infamous Anna Karenina.

“I think at first you should watch this.”

Spencer put the two mugs on the coffee table before giving her phone to Aria. The young Montgomery wasn’t seeing the link between her essay and what seemed to be a video clip from a singer that she had never heard of.

“Lara Fabian?”

“She is from Belgium, but she worked with a Russian composer. She wrote a musical movie using the idea of soul reincarnation to tell stories of famous and less famous women of our History. She did one on Anna Karenina. It’s the second portrait of the movie, it could help you to understand the notion of the family but also how this one can be a cage for some people. Plus the music is kind of good.”

Trusting her friend, she launched the video and focused on the story. The blond singer seemed to be portraying Anna Karenina. Spencer was right, the 900-page novel was presented with passion and Romanesque moves. The colours and close-up were installing the atmosphere. It was like they were running through the story with ease. The complexity of Tolstoy was suddenly forgotten. Plus, Spencer was right, the music was particularly good.

Spencer was looking at her friend with a pride, drinking her hot chocolate silently. She had been able to bring back a smile on Aria’s lips, and her eyes were full of this light she used to have when she finally got an idea of where she was going with a project or essay.

“So if I get it right, Karenina was feeling trapped with a husband who wasn’t in love with her anymore and fell under the charms of this captain. What’s his name again?” Aria asked with concern.

“Count Alexei Vronsky.”

“Yeah, Vronsky! And she decided to leave her family for him, but she couldn’t leave her son behind so…”

“Oh, she did at first remember she went to live with Vronsky in his estate. She got a daughter with him, Annie. She thought…”

“Oh, yes! Yes, yes, she thought she could find happiness in her new family, but Vronsky absence and the fact that she was excluded from the Russian society life were making her crazy, and she became jealous and convinced herself that he was having an affair. She seemed to never find the happiness, she was looking for.”

“See, you got this,” Spencer said, smiling at her friend.

“That’s still doesn’t give me a clue on the angle to take for my essay.”

“What jumped at your face in this video?”

“I don’t know. She is pretty great in the role. The contrast of colours and… the difference between the scenes where she is alone and when her husband is in the picture. Her free and wild spirit seemed to be trapped when he is around. And this looks to her son before she chose to put an end to her life. I mean…”

“Continue. What does that tell you?” The young Hastings pushed her friend to think further.

“The importance of Happiness and family for Anna Karenina.”

“And what about Levin and Kitty?”

“Who?”

“Ekaterina Scherbatsky and Konstantin Levin.”

They were so into their discussion that they didn’t even realise that they were getting closer and closer on the couch. Spencer was unconsciously playing with Aria’s bracelet, and the young Montgomery doesn’t seem to mind. She was drinking her hot chocolate, thinking about the difference between the families in the novel.

She was on the right track, but she couldn’t find the idea that could resume everything they had just said. The young Montgomery was starting to be exhausted, and she was feeling guilty. Spencer could have a pleasant and calm evening far from the usual Rosewood drama, and there she was helping a desperate friend on an essay.

“Earth to Aria. Earth to Aria?”

“Sorry what?”

“Where did you go? Everything ok?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I was just you know thinking about Betsy Trubetskyakaya.”

“You mean, Trubetskaya?”

Aria tried to repeat the name without success. Between the frustration and the tiredness, the two girls ended up laughing whenever the young Montgomery was trying to say one of the multiple complicated Russian last names of the novel. Spencer knew that her friend needed to decompress before refocusing entirely on her work. Spencer offered Aria to watch one of the movies as the images seemed to help the young Montgomery to understand the tortuous story.

After an hour through one of the multiple adaptations of the book on screen, Aria finally found the idea. Spencer was so engulfed in the story that she almost got a heart attack when her friend jumped from the couch coming out with her ultimate idea.

“The power of the Happy family in Anna Karenina!”

She sat back down on the couch and started to type down on her computer as if she were possessed. Spencer looked at her stuck between worries and admiration for her friend. Aria was lost in her world and forgetting the outside one.

Two hours and three coffees later, Aria stood up and looked at her friend, shocked. Worried, Spencer got up and came close to her friend, ready to face one of Aria’s ultimate storms. She was used to it, but this time, she wasn’t sure that she was really prepared for it. She had never seen her friend in such trance.

“I did it. Spence’, I did it!”

Aria jumped into Spencer’s arms and hugged her as if there were no tomorrow. The young Hastings was lost but couldn’t let pass her chance to feel her friends in her arms. It was a secret for no one except Aria herself that Spencer had feelings for the young Montgomery.

In the excitation of the instant, Aria didn’t think and dropped a small peck on Spencer’s lips. The young Hastings froze, afraid to make a gesture that could make her friend run away.

“I’m sorry. I should send it.”

“Yeah, you should save it and sent it.”

And in a second, the moment was gone. Spencer stayed up, fidgeting her shirt sleeve. Aria wasn’t thinking much of her move. It wasn’t the first time that she had done it to one of her friends. “Aria, peck somebody on the cheek is so French, did you learn that during your Europe trip?” Hanna once teased her. She didn’t realise that her gesture had short-cut Spencer’s know-it-all brain.

“Spence? Are you ok?”

“Hmm? Yeah. Sorry, just a bit tired.”

“Spence?” Aria tried again, looking at her friend right in the eyes. “You know you can’t lie to me.”

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

“Oh, ok,” Aria said, disappointed to not be able to help her friend. “Anyway, thank you for your help, I wouldn’t have done it without you.”

“Aria, wait. I’m sorry. It’s dumb, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad, I just thought we were on the no-secret policy between us. I thought we were leaving that to Hanna and Emily.”

“It’s just… You kissed me, and I know that it didn’t mean anything for you but…” Spencer said bluntly without looking at her friend.

“Spence?”

“Damn, it’s so awkward. I should have kept my mouth shut, once again.” Spencer grunted, sitting down on the couch. “I have feelings for you, for so long that I thought that you knew and just decided to ignore it. I was ok with it but, you just kissed me out of nowhere, tonight.”

“You? But… You’ve always run after bad boys and...”

“Really?”

“I don’t know, Toby, Ian, Caleb even Jason. You never really showed interest in me. You’re always at Emily competition, Hanna’s parties but…”

“I’ve always ditch everything for you. You’ve always come first. Whenever you call, am I not the first one to answer?”

“Why you never said anything? When I broke up with Ezra? When I told you about Jason?” Aria demanded, sitting next to her friend on the couch.

“I thought you knew and pretend it didn’t exist to not hurt me because you wasn’t feeling the same thing. I just wanted you to be happy, plus have you seen my father? Have you seen how he reacts when something doesn’t fit in his plans? I couldn’t take the risk to lose you or not be able to see you again.”

“He never said anything bad about being gay. He seems to love Emily… You think?” Aria asked, worried, taking her friends’ hands in hers.

“I don’t think, Aria, I know... Spencer isn’t enough, no matter hard she tries. Look how Melissa is...”

“Stop... let’s not ending up in a drama like Anna Karenina,” Aria intervened, refusing to hear her best friend depreciated herself. “What do you want now? What your heart is looking for?”

“You. Your lips, kissing them again.” Spencer whispered shyly, looking at their intertwined fingers.

Aria didn’t hesitate a second and came closer. She made a pause waiting for Spencer to stop her, but when her friend didn’t move, she resumed her gesture and kissed her with softness. They took their time, discovering each other’s feelings, under their fingers, through their lips, listening to their heartbeats.

“It was about time!”

Spencer froze in place while Aria jumped backwards almost falling from the couch if the young Hastings wasn’t clenching her t-shirt as if her life was depending on it. Leaning against the kitchen counter, Veronica Hastings was smiling proudly at the scene.

“Mrs Hastings?”

“Good evening, Aria. I see that my daughter finally found the courage to kiss you and work on her feelings for you. It was starting to be ridiculous.”

“You knew too?” Aria asked, shocked to be the only one oblivious.

“Aria did this… Did you know that Aria… Yes, Hanna and Emily but Aria… I’m not always here or really listening, but ‘Aria’ is probably the word the most used by my daughter. But I won’t bother you longer. If you need me, I’ll be in my office. Have a good night, girls,. Don’t stay up too late, you have class tomorrow.”

Veronica passed next to the couch and kissed her daughter in her hair before smiling to Aria. Once the older Hastings has disappeared in the corridor, Aria brought back her attention on her friend who hasn’t move an iota.

“Are you ok?”

“I don’t know. I never thought that…”

“So, what does that mean? Can I continue to kiss you or you want me to leave?”

“Don’t you dare to leave me!” Spencer said, pulling Aria toward her. “Now that I know how it feels to kiss you, I might become an addict to it.”

“Oh, really? I wouldn’t want you to be in withdrawal.” Aria laughed before kissing her, this time, she wasn’t scared and let her heart talked for her.

Aria was sure of one thing; she would keep Anna Karenina in heart for a long time. Without this tortuous novel, she would have probably never realised that the happiness and love she was looking for was right under her nose in her best friend’s arms and heart.

That night, the two new love birds fell asleep on the Hastings couch, in each other arms with a happy smile carved on their faces. Tomorrow would bring its batch of discussion, but for tonight, happiness and love finally found their way to the young women’s heart and hadn’t the intention to leave before a long time.

> **_My life now, my whole life, regardless of all that may happen to me, every minute of it, is not only not meaningless, as it was before, but has the unquestionable meaning of the good which it is in my power to put into it!_** Konstantin Levin – _Anna Karenina_ – Leo Tolstoy

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you've enjoy the story.
> 
> Don't hesitate to leave a review or a kudos, I love having news from you.
> 
> Until next time,  
> Stay safe,  
> T x


End file.
